The harem trope is so prevalent in anime, it’s become a genre of its own. Although there’s no limit to the number of love interests a protagonist may have, one needs to have at least three to qualify as a harem rather than a love triangle. Harems with female leads and male suitors are included under theumbrella of haremanime but are technically defined as reverse harems while the traditional harem term indicates a male protagonist with female romantic interests.
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The appeal of the genre predominantly lies in the wish fulfillment it grants the audience, allowing them to envision being desired by an array of attractive individuals, who tend to fall into established categories of love interest types. There’s nothing wrong with indulging in a fun archetypal harem anime but for those looking for something that breaks down its elements and reconsiders them, here are five anime that deconstruct the harem genre.
5Neon Genesis Evangelion
This groundbreaking anime has long been considered to be a deconstruction of the mecha genre, but its skillful subversion of harem tropes can be overlooked. At the start of the series, Shinji is clearly attracted to the show’s major female characters, Misato, Asuka, and Rei. Three beautiful women with vastly different personas and appeals, a typical harem dynamic. Like other aspects of the series, the familiar trope lures the audience into thinking thatEvangelionis just another mecha anime (though one with akiller opening) before it takes the plunge into the deepest, darkest depths of the human psyche.
As Shinji’s mental state begins to crumble, so do the trio’s and Shinji’s individual relationships with them. Instead of Shinji’s bond with the women aiding them in standard harem style, his presence in their lives partially triggers the re-emergence of the traumas and emotional disturbances hidden underneath their eccentric personalities. Their pain and pasts end up redefining the relationships they hold with Shinji, effectively shattering the prospect of a conventional connection between any of them. This can be applied even to Kaworu, whose intense connection to Shinji is undercut by his true nature as an Angel. Plenty of harem animes conclude without the protagonist settling on a lover but inEvangelion, none of the cast is able to be functional partners to Shinji. Perhaps that is why decades after the anime aired, theEvangelionstoryline would conclude with Shinji starting a new lifewith Mari, a character that represented a fresh start.
4A Lull In The Sea
While the anime’s male protagonist, Hikari, has enough love interests to constitute a harem, the fantasy series is centered not only on his relationships with them but his entire group of childhood friends as they develop feelings for one another and often inadvertently break each other’s hearts. By emphasizing the ever-changing bonds of both friendship and romance between a tight-knit group of adolescent friends, the anime’s harem is reconfigured from a wish-fulfillment scenario to a thoughtful navigation through the waters of first loves and growing up.
The affection Hikari’s harem members have for him, that he and others have for them, and that they grow to have for others, are all a reflection of how emotions shift and reshape from childhood to adulthood, and an acceptance that those changes and the pain that can accompany them are a natural part of life.A Lull in the Sea’s harem, like a pause in the ocean’s waves or the days of youth, is only a temporary, though memorable, moment in time.
3School Days
Adapted from the visual novel known for its abundance of deadly endings,School Daysis one of the most notorious harem animes of all time. Many have criticized the series for its despicable, womanizing protagonist and thebloody messthat was its final episode. Yet those detractors miss whatSchool Daysis at its core, a parody of the high school harem genre and a subversion of its tropes. It takes the format of the wish-fulfillment fantasy that is the foundation for a majority of harem anime and contorts it into an absolute nightmare. It masquerades as a standard romantic drama and once it’s got the viewer fooled, unveils its true, gruesome nature.
It would be a stretch to say thatSchool Daysis representational of everyday life, but it certainly throws a cold sense of realism over the harem genre, exhibiting the (albeit worse case) consequences of engaging in multiple relationships with people who have genuine feelings for you, and what’s more, know each other. And conveying that it reflects badly on one’s character to behave so carelessly and indecisively when handling the hearts of others.
2Ouran High School Host Club
This romantic comedy is one of the most beloved and well-known reverse harem animes in the genre. Although it is absolutely littered with tropes of the medium, from the damsel in distress to the scholarship student in a posh private school,Ouran Host High School Clubtwists harem convention by featuring a heroine that is nearly a complete inversion of the average shoujo protagonist. Where many have blushed or screeched, Haruhi is utterly nonchalant and unbothered. It isn’t unusual for heroines to play the straight man amongst acast of chaotic characters, but few play it as poker-faced as Haruhi who spends a decent chunk of her screentime either intentionally ignoring the other hosts’ antics or being blissfully unaffected by them.
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The anime also uniquely dissects notions of gender, when the harem trope is typically highly structured around its concepts and roles. Haruhi considers her gender to be of little importance, not bothering to correct the hosts when they mistake her for a boy and joining the club as a host herself.
1Ranma 1/2
Although the shonen comedy is often cited as one of the pioneers of the harem genre, it manages to situate itself as a deconstruction of that same genre decades later. The function of most harems in anime is to emphasize a protagonist’s appeal as a lover and their ability to form meaningful bonds with a variety of people, in addition to entertaining the notion of the protagonist with different archetypal romantic interests. In contrast, whileRanma ½’s titular protagonist does care to an extent about all his admirers, he only develops a deep connection on-screen with Akane, theheroine of the series.
The rest of his pursuers shallowly fall for his physical prowess (with the exception of his childhood friend Ukyo but their relationship stagnates almost immediately after her introduction) and obsessively pursue him, often resorting to tricks and manipulation. Their fanatic behavior is juxtaposed against Akane, who gradually falls for Ranma and doesn’t attempt to force her affections onto him. The romantic rivals are essentially punished for coveting the protagonist, despite being usually ordinary harem conduct.
With the addition of Akane’s own reverse harem, the mixed bag of rivals and their unrelenting courting of the heroes provide much of the show’s plot. The antics of love interests being a driving force of the narrative is a staple of slice-of-life harem anime but in the case ofRanma ½, Akane and Ranma hide behind the chaos caused by their rivals as an excuse to avoid confronting the feelings they have for each other. Though that havoc tends to also stir up those same feelings, propelling them to the surface. Sadly,Ranma ½got far too caught up in theharem circus, and both its anime and manga ended the story of Akane and Ranma on an incredibly unsatisfying note.
